Hmmm...No wonder the Mavs are so Bad.

After the Maverick's OT loss to OKC last night, I did at little research at basketball-reference, and found that in games that were decided in overtime, the Mavs are a horrid 1-7 with the only victory coming against the Kings.

That's what's holding the Mavs back this season, an inability to close out close games.

For comparison? The Thunder are 4-0.

The Spurs are 3-1.

The Heat are 3-0

That's what holding the Mavs back. They're never going anywhere until they realized it's not about how you start games, it's about how you finish them.

Of course, it helps to have Dirk or OJ Mayo taking the last shot instead of Mike James...

I don't think that's the case. The Mavs are an old team and they probably are more tired out by overtime than the opposing team. But also Dallas often really picks it up late in the fourth to come back and tie it up and then it seems by overtime they run out of gas.
You can't say Dallas starts games well and finishes them badly because they have been quite bad most of the season and they are usually coming from behind to force overtime, so they actually start games badly too.

i find it to be more intriguing that Dallas has played in 8 overtime games this year. Thats a ton.
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Saying they've missed Dirk and it's taken him some time to get his legs under him is an obvious reason, but another reason is this team can't really get stops. Not turning the ball over, getting stops and rebounding the ball are huge when it comes to closing out games. They're a poor defensive team, and average at rebounding and not turning the ball over.

They are a great organization with a really good owner. They have A really good coach and A really good player. That's not a recipe for being great at closing out games, that's a recipe for being a okay team at best. They have a make shift roster crafted with expiring deals. It's not like they even tried to build a quality team, with a mix of veterans and young players that could grow together, like even the Wizards attempted, however unsuccessfully. They build a team full of guys who know they won't be there next year. Honestly they haven't really under preformed.

The good news is currently they are only like four games out of a eight seed and Portland and Utah could be sellers at the deadline and tank afterwards. Both Portland and Utah are said to be shopping their starting centers and the Jazz their starting PF. Plus Dirk will get better as the season goes and he gets healthier.

The bad news is that the Laker's and Houston (who would seem to be buyers) are thought to be trending upwards.